a. Field of the Invention
This disclosure relates to cable connectors for medical devices such as catheters. In particular, this disclosure relates to cable connectors utilizing flex circuitry to increase capacity.
b. Background Art
The connection of medical devices, such as electrophysiology catheters, to one or more medical diagnostic or treatment systems by one or more electrical cables is well known. Such medical systems may be, for example, mapping systems, imaging systems, navigation systems, ablation systems, etc., and the electrical cables may be used to transmit signals and/or power between the medical device and the medical systems. A cable connector is frequently employed to provide a secure, quick and easy way to attach and detach the connection between the medical device and the medical system. Such connectors are frequently incorporated into a handle of a medical device, with a male or female fitting in the handle and a corresponding female or male fitting on the connecting cable.
A common connector design uses a pin-to-socket connection. Isolation between the data channels in the cable is maintained through sizing and spacing of the pins. The number of data channels carried by the cable is thus in part dependent on the size of the pins in the connector and the overall size of the connector itself. Pins must also be rigid enough to maintain adequate performance of the connector which sets a lower limit on the size of the pins. Thus, in order to increase the number of data channels in pin-to-socket connectors, the size of the connector must increase to accommodate the increase in pins. This often requires an increase in the size of the handle in a medical device at its proximal end, which is not always desirable.
Advances in medical device technology are happening at a rapid pace. More and more devices having various different functions are available and the number of devices capable of performing multiple functions is increasing. The various different functions in the devices—such as ablation electrodes, ultrasound, radio frequency, etc.—have different control and data needs, often resulting in numerous different types of cables to be connected to each device. For multi-function devices, the desire to have only one cable connection per device requires the connector to accommodate all the necessary channels. There is a desire then to provide a cable connector for a medical device that can accommodate all the necessary electrical channels of multi-function devices and can be a universal connection for different devices regardless of the specific functions in the device. Further, it is desirable for a cable connector to have excess capacity to accommodate medical devices with even more or different functions than are presently known. Thus, there is a need for a connector that allows for increased capacity to accommodate a larger number of channels, while maintaining the ability to connect a medical device and a cable securely, quickly, and easily.
The foregoing discussion is intended only to illustrate the present field and should not be taken as a disavowal of claim scope.